Track-clearing attachment for railway-cars



(No Model.)

G. R. 82; W. H. PERRY.

TRACK CLEARING ATTACHMENT FOR-RAILWAY BARS. No. 457,540.

Patented Aug. 11, 1891.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE R. PERRY AND \VILLIAM H. PERRY, OF CONCORD, NEW

' HAMPSHIRE.

TRACK-CLEARING ATTACHMENT FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 457,540, dated August11, 1891.

Application filed January 24, 1891.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, GEORGE R. PERRY and WILLIAM H. PERRY, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Concord, in the county of Merrimac andState of New Hampshire, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Track-Clearing Attachments for Railway-Oars; and we dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to whichit appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to all surface railways, and is adapted. for useupon steam-locomotives, electric motors, as well as ordinary horse-carsand snow-plows.

All surface railways experience more or less difficulty in maintainingschedule time in winter, caused by obstructions of snow and ice. Of allroads, however, the electric streetrailways experience by far thegreater difficulty from this cause, for with them direct contact betweenthe wheels and rails is absolutely necessary for their successfuloperation. Vith teams constantly crossing the street-railway tracks,snow, which may have been piled up on either side by snow-plows, isgradually thrown back, and if it does not actually cover the tracks thetendency is toward filling the groove in which the flanges of thecar-wheels run, and in a short time this will become packed quite solid,so much so in fact that the flanges of the Wheels will pack it stillharder, and finally by riding upon ,tlfe'snow or ice prevent contactbetween the wheels and the-rails, thus rendering the car inoperative.

The object of the present invention is to keep the tread? of the wheelson the iron by means of rotary cutters, which shall clear a channel inthe proper groove for the flanges of the wheels, and thus avoid theabove-mentioned difficulty.

Our invention consists in rotary cutters, as fully explained in thefollowing specification and claims, and clearly illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, forming a part thereof, of which- Figure 1 is aperspective view of an elec- 5o trio street-car to which ourimprovements are Serial No. 378,903. (No model.)

applied. Fig. 2 represents a side elevation of the cutter and one meansby'which it maybe operated, as well as raising and lowering mechanism,Fig. 3 being a broken plan view of those parts shown in Fig. 2.

I Similar letters designate corresponding parts.

In the drawings we show but one method for mounting and driving ourcutters, as it is not our purpose to claim in the present instance anyparticular driving mechanism, numerous methods being feasible,-as, forinstance, the common belt and belt-pulleys or sprocket-wheels andchain-belts.

As speed forms an important factor in the successful work of thecutters, it is probable that some system of gearing, as a drivingmechanism, is preferable.

The lines X Y, seen in Fig. 2, represent respectively the bottom of acar and the rail.

A represents our improved rotary cutter, which should be something undera foot in diameter and about one inch or less in thickness. Theperipheries of these cutters are serrated, as at a, and they are mountedon an arbor B, carried in bearings formed at one end of the arms 0,mounted, as shown, upon the car-axle D. These arbors B may extend fromone to the other side of a car and carry a cutter for each rail, inwhich case a single train of gears might connect it with the caraXle ator near the center of the car; but in the drawings we show anindependent arbor B for each cutter, carrying on the opposite side ofthe arms 0 a bevel-gear E, meshing with a bevel-gear F, mounted upon thelower end of a shaft G, carried in bearings 0, formed upon each arm O,and having at its upper end a bevel-gear F, meshing with a gear H,mounted upon the car-axle.

The vertical adjustment of the cutters may be accomplished by means of arod I, connecting each of the arms 0 with a crank J, mounted near eachend of a shaft K, supported by hangers L, which shaft is provided with acrank M, connected by means of a rod N with a short crank O, mounted ona vertical rod P, which passes upward through the platform of a car andterminates in a hand-crank Q, and

by turning the latter one-half a revolution to the left or to the rightboth the cutters at one end of a car are either raised or lowered, asrequired.

In Fig. 2 the cutter A is shown as when lowered sufiiciently deep toclear a deeper groove than is actually required by the wheelflange.These cutters A are driven in the opposite direction to that in whichthe car or its wheels are moving. Hence the ice is thrown ahead.

Having described our invention, what we claim is 1. In a track-cleaningdevice, the combination, with the axle of a car, of a gear-wheel mountedthereon and an arm pivotally secured at one end to the axle and havingbearings upon one side, a cleaning-wheel journaled at the free end ofthe arm provided with agearwheel, a shaft j ournaled in the bearings,having a wheel at each end, engaging with the said gear-wheels, andmeans for adjusting the free end of the arm, substantially as described.

2. In a track-cleaning device, the combination, with an arm pivotallyconnected at one end to the car and having a cleaning-wheel at theopposite end, adapted to be driven from the axle of the car, of ashaftjournaled to the car, provided with two cranks, ahandle at the front ofthe car, a rod connecting one of the cranks to the free end of the arm,and another rod connecting the other crank to the handle, substantiallyas described.

In testimony whereof we' aifix our signatures in presence of twowitnesses.

GEORGE R. PERRY. WILLIAM H. PERRY. Witnesses:

J. B. THURSTON, NATHANIEL E. MARTIN.

